Students read and annotate a provided article and are directed to identify the author's thesis and supporting points and record those in a graphic organizer. Students are instructed to mark ideas they doubt with question marks and to record reactions and a final opinion about the author's view. The Skills list asks students to cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly and by inference.

Students are asked to choose an interpretation for symbols (Activity 1) and "back up [their] explanation with support from the text," requiring them to marshal textual evidence for a claim. The Wrapping Up section tells students to consider others' interpretations and "perform your own evaluation," prompting comparison and judgment of claims. The journal entry requires students to record actions and quotes from other characters, engaging with characters' speech and how it affects others.

Students are asked to consider Piggy's spoken question ('Which is better -- to have rules and agree, or to hunt and kill?') and to note that Piggy's death silences his point of view. Students are prompted to analyze aspects of Jack's leadership and contrast them with Ralph's in a one-page journal entry, which asks for analysis of leadership approaches and sustainability. Discussion questions ask students to compare being "civilized" (including nonviolence and social rules) with violent rule, prompting consideration of competing viewpoints about leadership and order.

Students are asked to find and cite specific passages from Lord of the Flies to support a thesis (Brainstorming, Outline, and Essay Organizer). Revision guidance explicitly tells students to review and correct "errors in logic," to check whether the thesis is supportable, and to determine whether details follow a logical order (Things to Know; You Are the Editor pages). The Unit Test and rubric require students to provide textual evidence and explain how examples support claims (Essay Rubric; Unit Test Part III and IV).

Students are asked in homework to determine whether the narrator is a reliable source and to "find the clues in the story" that support or undermine his trustworthiness, listing evidence in a two-column activity sheet (Crazy Like a Fox?). The lesson asks students to analyze the narrator's first-person point of view (Question #3) and to consider why his claims of sanity may be unconvincing, citing specific lines the narrator uses to "prove" his sanity. Activity prompts and answer keys direct students to identify repeated images and claims (e.g., the beating heart, the "vulture" eye, and the narrator's "wise precautions") as evidence that supports or contradicts the narrator's reasoning.

Students are asked in Activity 2 to compare The Lottery with another controversial book or movie and to judge whether people's complaints about that work were valid, prompting them to weigh arguments and evidence. Discussion questions ask students to consider reasons the villagers continue the lottery (e.g., blind tradition, mob mentality, indoctrination), which asks students to evaluate collective reasoning and motivations. The Student Activity Pages require students to cite elements from the text and explain thematic similarities and controversies, which involves assessing claims about a work's impact.

Students compare and contrast Harrison's spoken content in the written story and in the film, discussing how his speech shifts from a self-centered declaration to an appeal for common ground (Wrapping Up question about Harrison's address). Students watch and discuss a persuasive video about equality (Activity 1: Video Reflection) and then record and discuss their own responses in journal entries. Students complete an activity page and guided discussion prompts that ask them to analyze how director choices, scene additions/omissions, and tone emphasize different themes and shape audience response.

Students prepare formal opening statements for the semicolon and the colon in "The Great Punctuation Trial," including citing claims and providing example sentences as evidence. Students present those statements aloud to a judge and answer follow-up questions that require them to explain and defend their reasoning with examples. The judge (adult) prompts students to explain rules and provide examples or revisions when explanations are unclear, requiring students to support their claims with evidence.

Students read and annotate poems (e.g., "Introduction to Poetry") and answer questions about who the speaker refers to, what the speaker wants, and how the speaker's suggestions differ from readers' expectations, which requires considering the speaker's point of view. Students examine denotation and connotation in poems such as "Richard Cory" and an Emily Dickinson poem, underlining words, writing denotations and connotations, and explaining why a poet chose specific words, which engages analysis of rhetorical word choice. Students compare their own definitions of poetry with poets' quotations and revise their definitions, showing they consider different perspectives on what poetry is.

Students listen to audio recordings of poems (e.g., "Lord Randall" and Marlowe's poem) and are asked to explain differences between versions and the effect of musical or rhetorical choices. Students are prompted to reflect in journals on how rhythm, word choice, and a single-word change (e.g., "Could" vs. "Dare" in "The Tyger") affect meaning and reader response. Students identify and mark examples of rhetorical sound devices (alliteration, assonance, consonance, rhyme) and explain why particular repetitions or word choices are effective.

Students identify and analyze instances of overstatement/hyperbole and understatement/meiosis in poems (e.g., lines from "To His Coy Mistress" and Frost's "Fire and Ice") and are asked to explain how those exaggerations function. Students locate and explain examples of irony and paradox (e.g., the Martian's ironic line in "Earth" and Wordsworth's "The Child is the father of the Man") and describe how these rhetorical devices create contrast or emphasize meaning. Student activity pages require citing specific lines and explaining the figurative language, which includes labeling rhetorical choices like hyperbole and understatement.

Students are asked to identify the poem's speaker and tone in the Paul Laurence Dunbar activity and to consider how dialect helps or hinders understanding, which engages analysis of a speaker's perspective. The Billy Collins free-verse activity asks students to state "What point does Collins keep making?" and to explain how comparisons to famous achievers make the poem humorous, prompting analysis of rhetorical choices and exaggerated comparison. The discussion of Shakespeare's Sonnet CXXX explicitly points out "false compare" and notes that the sonnet pokes fun at traditional conventions, giving students an example of exaggerated or distorted comparisons in rhetoric.

Students watch videos of student recitations and are asked to note in a journal what makes each performance effective (Activity 2). Students read the "Tips on Reciting" page and are directed to determine who the speaker is and what the poem's tone is, considering how to communicate tone through voice and delivery (Homework). Students are asked to consider why the poet chose certain words and to analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (Homework example on Housman).

The lesson's Choice 7 asks students to read articles supporting and opposing Bob Dylan's Nobel Prize and to "consider both sides of the debate" before writing a one-page response arguing whether Dylan deserved the prize. Students are directed to read some of Dylan's lyrics and optional performance videos and to use specific reasons and credited sources in their written argument. The unit also provides linked pro/con articles for students to analyze as part of forming their response.

Students are asked to distinguish nonfiction genres (essay, speech, biography, autobiography, memoir) and to read a variety of nonfiction works, including a speech. The Parent Plan lists the skill "Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text." The Student Activity Page asks students to compare viewpoints and "evidence about the book's accuracy" and to consider Patricia McCormick's role in shaping the book's account.

Students analyze paraphrases on the Student Activity Page, judging whether the paraphrase is accurate, uses the same key words, or would be better quoted. One example asks students to judge a paraphrase that changes "can yield important effects" to "will definitely improve," which requires students to notice a change in the strength of the claim (an exaggeration). Students also paraphrase and interpret lines from Malala's diary, attending to context and meaning when restating a speaker's words.

Students are instructed to analyze decisions that Malala or her father made using the APE strategy (Answer, Prove, Extend), which requires them to state a claim, provide textual quotations or examples as proof, and offer an explanation or opinion. The activity directions and parent notes require students to back up answers with specific quotations (including page numbers) and to discuss whether the decision was correct, prompting students to explain reasoning and support it with evidence.

Students watch an 11-minute documentary reflection by filmmaker Adam B. Ellick and take notes on specific comparison questions (e.g., the role Malala's father played, the filmmaker's focus versus Malala's focus in the book). Students are prompted to consider why a viewer of only the video would have a different impression of Malala's mother and to evaluate in what ways the film and book are effective in telling her story. Students are asked to discuss whether Malala's father or the media bear responsibility for making her a target, which requires assessing implied claims and perspectives presented in the video.

Students read both halves of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "Letter from Birmingham Jail" and answer guided questions asking which argument was most persuasive and why, requiring analysis of King's rhetoric and reasoning. Students underlined excerpts and completed a double-entry diary to state whether they agreed with King's reasoning and to articulate their own views, which asks them to evaluate point of view and lines of argument. Students matched King's historical and religious comparisons in the "People of the Past" activity, which asks them to interpret rhetorical references and how those comparisons advance King's purpose. Students also completed a pros/cons organizer about the children's march and journaled responses to video prompts that require weighing opposing arguments and evidence.

Students are asked to analyze excerpts from Thoreau and King and to mark phrases that express similar ideas (Activity 1), filling a comparison table of Thoreau, Overlapping Ideas, and King. The Parent Plan and Skills list explicitly include determining an author's point of view or purpose and analyzing how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view. In Activity 2, students compare opposing quotes on America, the role of government, and voting and must decide which thinker they agree with and explain why.

Students read and annotate Elie Wiesel's speech and complete short-answer questions that ask them to notice style, tone, and metaphor and to find quotes that support specific claims. Students compare Wiesel's assertions with those of MLK, Thoreau, and Malala by locating and quoting aligned statements. Students watch and reflect on Martin Luther King Jr.'s delivery to explain how voice inflection, pauses, and gestures contribute to rhetorical effect.

Students are asked in homework to use the APE strategy, which requires them to Answer a question about whether the author's dreams or memories are more traumatic, Prove their answer using a quotation from the text, and Extend by explaining how the quotation supports their answer. The Wrapping Up and Questions to Discuss sections prompt students to evaluate the author's explanation of his photographic memory and to consider whether the boys' narrow escapes and the accuracy of the author's memories are believable.

Students are asked to write a journal response in Activity 1 about the controversy over the memoir's accuracy, weighing supporters' and detractors' viewpoints and deciding whether exaggerations or borrowed events matter. In Activity 2 students watch a six-minute video of Ishmael Beah and complete a "Different Accounts" worksheet, filling book and video columns and preparing to discuss differences in perspective and details. The parent/skills sections explicitly list that students will "delineate and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text" and "identify false statements and fallacious reasoning," which frames expected student work.

Students are asked to re-read the lieutenant's speech (p. 123) and the RUF child's statements (p. 134) and to consider whether the lieutenant's analysis of the two sides is accurate, then write a response stating a conclusion and citing examples or quotations from the text. In Activity 1 Option 1 students complete a comparative worksheet ("RUF vs. Government Soldiers") in which they mark whether specific war-crime actions apply to each side and provide supporting examples or quotations. In the Wiesel's Words activity students select a quotation and explain how that rhetoric relates to Beah's memoir, using specific book or video evidence to support their analysis.

Students are asked to compare authors' use of rhetoric and writing style and to determine each author's point of view or purpose (Skills section and multiple activity prompts). The Comparing Memoirs page and discussion prompts ask students to judge whether each writer was effective in persuading readers and what each author wants readers to believe. The lesson also directs students to be prepared to discuss rhetorical choices and to analyze specific scenes for differences in presentation.

Students are asked to analyze nonfiction authors and speeches in Part IV prompts (for example, explain Thoreau's meaning and how King defined civil disobedience, and discuss Wiesel's rationale for recounting wartime atrocities), which requires evaluating point of view, purpose, and rhetorical aims. Part II and the exam materials ask students to distinguish quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing and to integrate and paraphrase Wordsworth, which practices handling and assessing use of evidence. The answer key also defines 'rhetoric' and the A Long Way Gone prompt explicitly asks students to describe the controversy about accuracy in a memoir, which invites identifying exaggerated or disputed evidence.

Several discussion and homework prompts ask students to judge characters' statements and motives—for example, "Do you think Graff was telling Ender the truth when he said his parents didn't want him? Why or why not?" and "How did Graff get the other boys to not like Ender?" The lesson also asks students to consider questions such as the difference between a preemptive attack and self defense and the importance of privacy from government/military powers, which invite evaluation of viewpoints and reasoning. Option 2 asks students to research historical reasons for limiting children and record facts, which requires assessing arguments and evidence about population policies.

The "Questions to Discuss" section asks students to react to Graff's pronouncements and explicitly frames those pronouncements as "melodramatic and grossly oversimplified," prompting students to identify manipulation and misinformation. Sample student responses in the plan model identifying unsupported claims (e.g., "for all we know" indicates lack of evidence) and factual exaggerations (e.g., "No one person invented the wheel"). Students are invited to point out how Graff uses rhetoric to influence Ender and to question the accuracy and reasoning behind his statements.

Students are asked explicitly to consider how to determine whether authority figures are telling the truth in the "Ideas to Think About" section, prompting them to weigh claims and evidence. In the "Questions to Discuss," students are asked to evaluate Dink's claim that the buggers have been destroyed, consider Graff's possible knowledge or motives, and decide what Ender should do—tasks that require weighing a speaker's point of view and reasoning. Students analyze characters' statements and motives in discussion questions that require judging credibility and supporting reasons.

Students choose criteria and assign scores in the "Competing Commanders" activity, which requires them to form and organize a point of view about each commander's leadership. Students analyze opening conversations between authority figures on the "Text Structure" page by explaining conflicting opinions and the roles of the speakers, which engages them in interpreting speakers' perspectives and rhetorical choices. Discussion prompts and homework ask students to evaluate claims about manipulation and persuasion (e.g., whether the I.F. stirs fear, and how Peter and Valentine control people), which prompts consideration of rhetoric and persuasive techniques.

Students read about John Locke and Demosthenes and write a journal entry reflecting on why Peter adopts the pen names and how those personas are used to influence public opinion. Students complete a "Complete the Thought" activity matching famous leadership quotes and then choose three novel characters to match with quotes and explain their reasoning. Discussion prompts ask students to consider how to determine whether authority figures tell the truth and to identify who in the novel is a great leader or who abuses authority, encouraging analysis of persuasive intent and rhetorical stance.

Students are asked to evaluate Ender's perception of his own actions (e.g., "The reader should evaluate Ender's actions, rather than simply accept Ender's perception of his own actions"). Discussion prompts directly ask students to consider whether Ender can evaluate himself objectively and to review why Ender's perceptions may or may not be reliable. Homework and discussion questions (for example, whether Colonel Graff is pushing Ender too hard) require students to give reasons for judgments about characters' actions.

The lesson asks students to consider questions such as "How can you determine whether the things authority figures tell you are true?" and "Can a government gain power by stoking a fear of foreign enemies in citizens?", which prompt evaluation of claims and persuasive tactics. The Parent Plan lists a skill to "Assess how point of view or purpose shapes the content and style of a text," and the wrapping-up prompt asks students to consider how adults used Valentine to persuade Ender, inviting analysis of persuasive intent and influence.

Students are asked to consider authority figures' truthfulness directly (e.g., the prompt "How can you determine whether the things authority figures tell you are true?" and Question #4 asking why the adults lie to Ender). Students analyze why characters (Graff, Mazer, the military) manipulate Ender and identify the stated reasons for deception in written responses and class discussion. In the adaptations activity, students compare book dialogue and narration to filmmakers' or comic writers' choices and judge which version is more effective, noting omissions or added lines that change a character's apparent point of view.

Students retake the unit "Issues" survey and compare their before-and-after answers, then discuss whether and why their views changed using examples from Ender's Game. The "Questions to Discuss" ask students to evaluate characters' reasoning (e.g., why Mazer supports destroying the buggers; how Dink might react to being used) and to consider whether fear of foreign enemies can be used by governments to gain power. The homework directs students to read a Forbes article about leadership from Ender's Game, which sets up a later activity that may require evaluating an author's claims.

Students are asked to consider whether authority figures and the I.F. are truthful (e.g., "How can you determine whether the things authority figures tell you are true?" and "Should he believe the I.F. when they say the buggers are a threat?"). Discussion prompts ask students to evaluate how governments or politicians might gain power by stoking fear and to consider political leaders' responsibilities to tell the truth. Students also read a Forbes article on leadership and summarize its lessons, which requires engaging with an author's point of view.

Students rewrite conversations to incorporate historical quotes (Box 4) and compare portrayals of military vs. civilian leadership in two- to three-paragraph responses (Box 5), which requires attention to speakers' words and persuasive effects. Students analyze the author's use of a historical reference (Box 8) and explain why the author might have used it, asking them to consider authorial purpose and rhetorical effect. The final reflection asks students to consider leadership, empathy, and ethical uses of power, prompting consideration of how leaders present and justify positions.

Students are asked to watch Malcolm Gladwell's TED talk and to jot down prior knowledge, then discuss questions that probe his reinterpretation of David and Goliath (e.g., why David is seen as an underdog and in what ways David had the advantage). The lesson states that Gladwell "uses other researchers' studies to draw conclusions" and the parent plan explains Gladwell's acromegaly-based evidence, prompting students to consider his reasoning. Homework reading and questions about the Roseto study require students to identify researchers' initial hypotheses and the researchers' conclusion about why the Rosetans had good health.

Students are asked to consider "How do writers or speakers persuade their readers or audience?" and to explore how Gladwell uses analogy and other strategies to define "outlier." Activity 1 directs students to re-read specific Introduction paragraphs (pp. 10-11) and explain how the Roseto study functions as an analogy to advance Gladwell's point. The Parent Plan lists the skill "Determine an author's point of view or purpose... and analyze how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view or purpose."

Students are asked whether the chapter's charts are the best way to communicate birthdate information and to create an alternative graphic (Activity 1), which requires judging how visual evidence supports the author's claim. In Option 2, students sketch a graphic to communicate the TIMSS study findings, translating textual quantitative evidence into a visual form. Homework questions ask students to explain the 10,000-hour rule and relate it to the sports examples, prompting students to restate and connect the author's reasoning and evidence.

Students are asked to complete the "Looking Closely" page that directs them to analyze how Gladwell develops his points across Sections 1–3, including questions about how Bill Joy's genius is introduced, why Joy is omitted from Section 2, and how the sections are structured to support Gladwell's ideas. The Parent Plan skills list explicitly includes determining an author's point of view or purpose, analyzing how an author uses rhetoric to advance that point of view, and citing strong textual evidence to support analysis. Activity 2 asks students to mark key opportunities in examples (The Beatles or Bill Gates) and later use those marked pieces of evidence in a visual product, reinforcing practice with identifying and citing supporting evidence.

The lesson's skills list requires students to "cite strong and thorough textual evidence" and to "draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research," which asks students to refer to an author's claims. Several comprehension questions ask students to explain Gladwell's examples (e.g., the University of Michigan experiment and the jury's reasoning) and a discussion prompt asks why Gladwell focuses on a small Kentucky town, prompting consideration of his choices. The homework asks students to research settlers and reflect on stereotypes, which requires assessing claims about cultural legacies.

Students read Chapter 7 of Outliers and an accompanying critical blog post (Activity 4) and are asked to identify the blog author's primary objections to Gladwell's claims. In Activity 5 students either prepare an oral summary of the critic's main points and judge which objections are strongest and whether they trust the critic's information, or they complete a chart analyzing Gladwell's responses to specific criticisms and evaluate response effectiveness. The lesson explicitly asks students to assess alleged misquoting, omissions (e.g., the extent of English in the cockpit), and whether Gladwell's examples validly support his broader conclusions about culture and crashes.

Students read and analyze Chapters of Outliers and answer questions about Gladwell's claims (e.g., why Asian students learn to count faster, the 10,000-hour rule). The lesson asks students to determine the author's main goal (inform, persuade, or both) and includes homework/discussion prompts that ask students to compare Gladwell's view with prior beliefs and to evaluate whether the 10,000-hour rule is encouraging or fatalistic. The skills list directs students to draw and cite textual evidence and to analyze how an author unfolds an analysis or series of ideas.

Students read Lincoln's "Second Inaugural Address" and are asked to analyze his rhetorical strategies, including choices about tone, organization of ideas, and word choice. Students complete an activity chart identifying quotes from the speech, naming literary devices (parallelism, antithesis, allusion), and explaining the intended effect on the audience. The Parent Plan explicitly asks students to determine an author's point of view or purpose and to cite textual evidence to support analysis.

Students read Colonel Chivington's testimony and other firsthand accounts and complete the "Primary Falsehoods" activity, in which they quote excerpts and judge their truthfulness. Students complete a graphic organizer that links claims in secondary sources to supporting primary-source evidence and note differences or inconsistencies between accounts. Students read pro-Chivington editorials and either create a split-perspective magazine cover or write an editorial using facts from sources to argue the Indians' side and to question Chivington's motives.

Students examine and explain how the author supports two specific claims on the student activity page (e.g., how noncontact forces and centripetal/centrifugal forces are explained). Students are prompted to assess methods the author uses to explain terms (highlighting, explanation, example, illustration) and to judge audience appropriateness for a middle-school readership. The parent/skills list explicitly asks students to cite textual evidence and to "assess the extent to which the reasoning and evidence an author presents supports his or her scientific analysis."

Students identify and label common informal fallacies (ad hominem, slippery slope, bandwagon, straw man, non-sequitur, hasty generalization, false dilemma) through video-guided fill-in activities and the Fallacy Bank matching tasks. Students read and annotate real speeches (Andrew Jackson, politician excerpts) and are required to find and highlight at least three examples of weak or fallacious reasoning. Students analyze speakers' rhetorical appeals (ethos, pathos, logos) using Lou Gehrig's speech and write or evaluate short speeches noting how evidence and rhetoric are used. The Parent Plan and activity instructions explicitly ask students to assess whether reasoning is valid, whether evidence is relevant and sufficient, and to identify exaggerated, distorted, or fallacious evidence.

Students are instructed to identify and refute counterarguments as part of the classical argument (e.g., Paragraph 4: Concession and Refutation) and to state opposing viewpoints clearly in the "Present the Evidence" activity. The text directs students to evaluate source credibility (author, publisher, purpose, bias) and to assess accuracy, relevance, and currency of content when using websites. Students are assigned two videos and questions about misleading statistics and graphs (Simpson's Paradox, scale manipulation, cherry picking), and the materials reference a prior "Logical Fallacies" lesson that made students aware that flawed arguments influence audiences.

Students are asked to analyze dialogue in Act 1 Scene 2 using an activity sheet that directs them to identify the speaker, understand their meaning (including checking for hidden meanings), determine actions, and identify each speaker's desires. The activity also asks students to summarize the passage in their own words and to reflect on how the passage relates to the play's theme and impact on the storyline. The lesson includes a guided example (Capulet and Paris) where students identify speakers' claims and desires and paraphrase the argument.

Students watch the TedEd video "A Host of Heroes" and answer journal questions that ask them to identify the three types of heroes, state the characteristics of a tragic hero, explain how Romeo meets each criterion, and say whether they agree with the video's claim about Romeo's major flaw. Students also prepare and read aloud monologues, with guidance to understand context and to watch actors' deliveries for ideas about how lines are spoken. The character-analysis activities require students to explain and justify whether characters are static/dynamic and round/flat using a timeline of actions.

The Day 2 directions explicitly ask students to understand how writers persuade using logos, pathos, and ethos and to know what logical fallacies are. Multiple student activity questions require students to identify appeals (e.g., ethos), explain and give examples of fallacies such as straw man or bandwagon, and analyze mitigated speech and jargon. Discussion prompt F asks students to evaluate Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers for persuasive methods, use of evidence, and criticisms that he may have molded stories to fit conclusions.